May is LGBTQ+ Pride Month. Throughout the month, Broadway Stages will feature and celebrate exceptional people, businesses, and organizations of the LGBTQ+ communities. We invite you to join us in recognizing their accomplishments and contributions! Today, we visit the historic Center for Anti-Violence Education in Brooklyn.

What is known today as the Center for Anti-Violence Education was originally founded in 1974 as Brooklyn Women’s Martial Arts (BWMA). BWMA was a training space for women (including lesbians and bisexuals) as part of the feminist anti-violence movement. The organization holds a special place in PRIDE history as it was the first in New York City to teach self-defense to transgender individuals and the first in the nation to do so for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Later, in 1990, it was renamed the Center for Anti-Violence Education (CAE), taking it from a volunteer organization with a visionary mission to a nationally recognized leader in violence prevention. Remaining constant throughout has been its work to build collective and individual strength to end violence and stand up for justice. CAE empowers women, LGBTQ individuals, young people, and survivors to build leadership skills, heal from past abuse, and break cycles of violence in their lives and communities. Over the years, CAE has reached more than 56,000 people with its unique violence prevention programs.

While the organization is multifaceted, three programs dominate its work. The first program, Empowerment Self Defense, dates back to its founding days. These workshops equip their participants with tools to apply to a range of interpersonal situations. There is self-defense in a traditional physical sense. But the skill imparted goes beyond this. Also explored are verbal, emotional, and social techniques. These techniques include assertiveness, de-escalation, situational awareness, and self-care practices for healing from violence. Each session is facilitated through a trauma-informed lens and centers on the experiences of those most at risk for violence.

But for those interested in regularly practicing traditional self-defense, there is the Brooklyn Goju, a new incarnation of the original karate program.

The Upstander program provides the perspectives and tools to center humanity across identity groups. An Upstander is defined as someone who takes action when they see an act of intolerance; speaks or acts in support of an individual or cause, intervening on behalf of a person being attacked or bullied; and actively works to create an anti-oppressive world. The interactive workshops are open to anyone looking for interpersonal tools to prevent, disrupt, and help heal from violence in their communities.

And Youth Power, CAE’s youth programs, provide methods to actively prevent, disrupt, and help heal from violence while supporting young people through the issues they face daily. They offer two programs that cater to young girls and teens, both cis and trans and gender-expansive youth. First is PACT (Power Action Change for Teens). This free, youth-based program aims to create a safe space for young people as they grow into adulthood. The second is Peer Educators. This stipended program leads workshops for young people at schools and community centers, foster care agencies, and other organizations that work with youth across New York City.

Click here for more information on these and other CAE workshops. To stay abreast of all other happenings at CAE, be sure to follow them on Instagram and Facebook. Most importantly, to add your financial support to the cause, click here.

Seeking a more just, peaceful world is something everyone can support. Broadway Stages knows the communities where we live and work are better places because of the excellent work the Center for Anti-Violence Education is doing every day. We are grateful for all the good they have brought to our city since 1974.